Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa Mark Wheelis*
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HISTORICAL REVIEW Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa Mark Wheelis* On the basis of a 14th-century account by the Genoese Gabriele de’ Mussi, the Black Death is widely believed to have reached Europe from the Crimea as the result of a biological warfare attack. This is not only of great historical interest but also relevant to current efforts to evaluate the threat of military or terror- ist use of biological weapons. Based on published translations of the de’ Mussi manuscript, other 14th- century accounts of the Black Death, and secondary scholarly literature, I conclude that the claim that bio- logical warfare was used at Caffa is plausible and provides the best explanation of the entry of plague into the city. This theory is consistent with the technology of the times and with contemporary notions of dis- ease causation; however, the entry of plague into Europe from the Crimea likely occurred independent of this event. he Black Death, which swept through Europe, the Near little help; they refer repeatedly to an eastern origin, but none T East, and North Africa in the mid-14th century, was prob- of the reports is firsthand. Historians generally agree that the ably the greatest public health disaster in recorded history and outbreak moved west out of the steppes north of the Black and one of the most dramatic examples ever of emerging or Caspian Seas, and its spread through Europe and the Middle reemerging disease. Europe lost an estimated one quarter to East is fairly well documented (Figure 1). However, despite one third of its population, and the mortality in North Africa more than a century of speculation about an ultimate origin and the Near East was comparable. China, India, and the rest further east, the requisite scholarship using Chinese and cen- of the Far East are commonly believed to have also been tral Asian sources has yet to be done. In any event, the Crimea severely affected, but little evidence supports that belief (1). clearly played a pivotal role as the proximal source from A principal source on the origin of the Black Death is a which the Mediterranean Basin was infected. memoir by the Italian Gabriele de’ Mussi. This memoir has been published several times in its original Latin (2,3) and has Historical Background to the Siege of Caffa recently been translated into English (4) (although brief pas- Caffa (now Feodosija, Ukraine) was established by Genoa sages have been previously published in translation, see refer- in 1266 by agreement with the Kahn of the Golden Horde (15). ence [5]). This narrative contains some startling assertions: It was the main port for the great Genoese merchant ships (16– that the Mongol army hurled plague-infected cadavers into the 20), which connected there to a coastal shipping industry to besieged Crimean city of Caffa, thereby transmitting the dis- Tana (now Azov, Russia) on the Don River. Trade along the ease to the inhabitants; and that fleeing survivors of the siege Don connected Tana to Central Russia, and overland caravan spread plague from Caffa to the Mediterranean Basin. If this routes linked it to Sarai and thence to the Far East (12,19,20). account is correct, Caffa should be recognized as the site of the Relations between Italian traders and their Mongol hosts most spectacular incident of biological warfare ever, with the were uneasy, and in 1307 Toqtai, Kahn of the Golden Horde, Black Death as its disastrous consequence. After analyzing arrested the Italian residents of Sarai, and besieged Caffa. The these claims, I have concluded that it is plausible that the bio- logical attack took place as described and was responsible for infecting the inhabitants of Caffa; however, the event was unimportant in the spread of the plague pandemic. Origin of the 14th-Century Pandemic The disease that caused this catastrophic pandemic has, since Hecker (6), generally been considered to have been plague, a zoonotic disease caused by the gram-negative bacte- rium Yersinia pestis, the principal reservoir for which is wild rodents (7–11). The ultimate origin of the Black Death is uncertain—China, Mongolia, India, central Asia, and southern Russia have all been suggested (see Norris [1] for a discussion of the various theories). Known 14th-century sources are of Figure 1. Tentative chronology of the initial spread of plague in the mid- *University of California, Davis, California USA 14th century (12–14). Emerging Infectious Diseases • Vol. 8, No. 9, September 2002 971 HISTORICAL REVIEW cause was apparently Toqtai’s displeasure at the Italian trade in Turkic slaves (sold for soldiers to the Mameluke Sultanate). The Genoese resisted for a year, but in 1308 set fire to their city and abandoned it. Relations between the Italians and the Golden Horde remained tense until Toqtai’s death in 1312 (19). Toqtai’s successor, Özbeg, welcomed the Genoese back, and also ceded land at Tana to the Italians for the expansion of their trading enterprise. By the 1340s, Caffa was again a thriv- ing city, heavily fortified within two concentric walls. The inner wall enclosed 6,000 houses, the outer 11,000. The city’s population was highly cosmopolitan, including Genoese, Venetian, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Mongols, and Turkic peo- ples (21) In 1343 the Mongols under Janibeg (who succeeded Özbeg in 1340) besieged Caffa and the Italian enclave at Tana (12), following a brawl between Italians and Muslims in Tana. The Italian merchants in Tana fled to Caffa (which, by virtue of its location directly on the coast, maintained maritime access despite the siege). The siege of Caffa lasted until February 1344, when it was lifted after an Italian relief force killed 15,000 Mongol troops and destroyed their siege machines (21). Janibeg renewed the siege in 1345 but was again forced to lift it after a year, this time by an epidemic of plague that devastated his forces. The Italians blockaded Mongol ports, forcing Janibeg to negotiate, and in 1347 the Italians were allowed to reestablish their colony in Tana (19). Gabriele de’ Mussi Gabriele de’ Mussi, born circa 1280, practiced as a notary in the town of Piacenza, over the mountains just north of Figure 2. The first page of the narrative of Gabriele de’ Mussi. At the top Genoa. Tononi summarizes the little we know of him (3). His of the page are the last few lines of the preceding narrative; de’ Mussi’s practice was active in the years 1300–1349. He is thought to begins in the middle of the page. The first three lines, and the large “A” are in red ink, as are two other letters and miscellaneous pen-strokes; have died in approximately 1356. otherwise it is in black ink. Manuscript R 262, fos 74r; reproduced with Although Henschel (2) thought de’ Mussi was present at the permission of the Library of the University of Wroclaw, Poland. the siege of Caffa, Tononi asserts that the Piacenza archives contain deeds signed by de’ Mussi spanning the period 1344 The narrative begins with an apocalyptic speech by God, through the first half of 1346. While this does not rule out lamenting the depravity into which humanity has fallen and travel to Caffa in late 1346, textual evidence suggests that he describing the retribution intended. It goes on: did not. He does not claim to have witnessed any of the Asian “…In 1346, in the countries of the East, countless numbers events he describes and often uses a passive voice for descrip- of Tartars and Saracens were struck down by a mysterious ill- tions. After describing the siege of Caffa, de’Mussi goes on to ness which brought sudden death. Within these countries say, “Now it is time that we passed from east to west to discuss broad regions, far-spreading provinces, magnificent kingdoms, all the things which we ourselves have seen…” cities, towns and settlements, ground down by illness and devoured by dreadful death, were soon stripped of their inhab- The Narrative of Gabriele De’ Mussi itants. An eastern settlement under the rule of the Tartars The de’ Mussi account is presumed to have been written in called Tana, which lay to the north of Constantinople and was 1348 or early 1349 because of its immediacy and the narrow much frequented by Italian merchants, was totally abandoned time period described. The original is lost, but a copy is after an incident there which led to its being besieged and included in a compilation of historical and geographic attacked by hordes of Tartars who gathered in a short space of accounts by various authors, dating from approximately 1367 time. The Christian merchants, who had been driven out by (Figure 2). The account begins with an introductory comment force, were so terrified of the power of the Tartars that, to save by the scribe who copied the documents: “In the name of God, themselves and their belongings, they fled in an armed ship to Amen. Here begins an account of the disease or mortality Caffa, a settlement in the same part of the world which had which occurred in 1348, put together by Gabrielem de Mussis been founded long ago by the Genoese. of Piacenza.” 972 Emerging Infectious Diseases • Vol. 8, No. 9, September 2002 HISTORICAL REVIEW “Oh God! See how the heathen Tartar races, pouring lence, and their inhabitants, both men and women, died together from all sides, suddenly invested the city of Caffa and suddenly. And when one person had contracted the illness, he besieged the trapped Christians there for almost three years. poisoned his whole family even as he fell and died, so that There, hemmed in by an immense army, they could hardly those preparing to bury his body were seized by death in the draw breath, although food could be shipped in, which offered same way.